Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority Hires Wenatchee Construction Company for $4.2 Million Taxiway, Hangar Site Project

May 24—EAST WENATCHEE — Wenatchee-based Selland Construction Inc. was hired for the $4.2 million Pangborn Memorial Airport project — that includes an 800-by-500-foot extension to Taxiway B, new roadway access and eight development-ready hangar pad sites.

Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority commissioners on Tuesday approved the bid award and heard about needed budget recalculations, based on the originally planned nine hangar sites decreasing to eight.

"During design we opted to drop a hangar due to the topography," wrote Stacie de Mestre, port director of economic development and capital projects, in an email. "It would have taken a significant amount of fill to get that last hangar site and it would have created some challenges with the perimeter road."

According to de Mestre, the initial layout was only a concept for budgeting purposes.

"That's (the original capital facilities charge) for nine lots and we have eight lots," said Jim Kuntz, port CEO. "What we need to do is recalculate this development and what the capital facilities charges are going to be. Staff needs to come back to you with a rational capital facilities charge for these lots."

The port is anticipated to kick in roughly $1.4 million from its capital funds budget. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a little over $2 million grant will cushion the project's total cost. The remainder of funding will come from capital facilities charges for hangar pads A and B, according to port documents.

"We think at this point we probably have two interested parties (for Pad A and Pad B)," Kuntz said. "We'll likely do Pad A for Airlift Northwest. We continue to negotiate a lease agreement on that."

If the negotiation with Airlift Northwest — an air ambulance program through Harborview Medical Center and the University of Washington School of Medicine — for development and occupancy of Pad A is solidified, Airlift Northwest would chip in for the capital facilities charge for Pad A.

A private, unnamed company is interested in Pad B and would pay almost $300,000 for the capital facilities charge, according to port documents.

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